A guilty feeling father took to the internet for answers after he left his teenage daughter at the airport, before jetting off on a family holiday.
The Reddit user took to the online forum to ask fellow users if he is an ‘a**hole’ for leaving his 14-year-old behind, after discovering her expired passport meant she couldn’t travel.
Explaining the sticky situation, he wrote, ‘I share a daughter with my ex who is 14 years old. I also have a 9 and 11 year old with my wife.
‘After many years, my wife and I are finally in a position of being financially ok. So we planned an international vacation for the very first time. It was expensive but we saved up for it.
‘When we go to get our tickets, I was horrified to learn that my daughter's passport was going to expire two months later. And the airlines said she couldn't get on the flight.
‘After debating it a lot, I made the decision to go ahead with the trip and have my father take my daughter home,’ he wrote.
‘I originally wanted to stay behind as well but at that point my wife wanted to cancel the trip because she wouldn't be able to handle travelling overseas alone with two kids for the first time.
‘It was a lot of money that was not refundable so I made the decision to go.’
After returning home, the father found that his daughter wouldn’t speak to him and was being teased at school for lying about going on holiday.
Confessing he feels ‘absolutely gutted’ over the situation, he pondered whether he had made the right choice.
Thousands of commenters descended to give their two cents on the predicament, with lots slamming the father for his questionable choice.
‘Losing thousands of dollars and missing a big holiday would be totally worth it to me to have ALL my kids with me, and not leaving one behind,’ one wrote.
‘By choosing only one instead of hurting all three of them equally, it definitely feels disproportionate to the sole child hurt. I can’t imagine how unwanted she probably feels just getting left there while her dad’s new family goes on the trip,’ added another.
‘They may not have been able to afford to push it back a day; that means paying thousands for new flights, possibly not being able to get seats together or all on the same flight, missing connections, etc. (not saying you're wrong, just pointing out that it's not logistically easy),’ another chipped in.
Did he do the right thing?
